The present invention relates to devices used in endoscopic surgery and, more particularly, to a network of endoscopic devices and the user experience related thereto.
Prior to a surgery, there is a desire for centralized scheduling of surgical cases, automatic delivery of patient and surgical case information from a centralized location to operating rooms, and centralized adjustment and delivery of surgeon and site surgical preferences. Pre-operative scheduling may improve operating room occupancy rates and shorten operating room preparation time.
During the course of endoscopic surgery, there is a desire for surgeons or hospital staff outside the operating room to observe the surgery and communicate with the surgeon/staff within the operating room. There exists a need for the hospital staff outside the operating room to view multiple video streams in combination with relevant data (for example, surgery time, operating room status, alerts) simultaneously to enable direct and rapid support of the surgeon and operating room staff. There exists a need to enable communication for remote viewers (such as senior surgeons and hospital staff (such as operating room managers) to view a live video stream or streams remotely and communicate with the surgeon inter-operatively in a manner that minimizes distraction to the surgeon.
Post-operatively, there is a desire for the surgeon to communicate to the patient or others the results of the surgery using images captured during surgery or video recordings made during surgery. As well, post-operatively, there is a desire for hospital management to gather data regarding the efficiency of the operating room (e.g. Surgery Time, Turn-Around Time), as well as any equipment setting changes during surgery which are necessary for medical records.
Management of post-operative artifacts (e.g. videos and still images) and data varies widely by institution. Many institutions simply print hard copies of the images for the medical records and an additional copy for the patient. Many institutions avoid recording videos due to the difficulty of managing the videos. Often, still images, videos and data are not easily available to the surgeon for post-operative management.
There exists a need for a better and more accessible way to archive surgical images, videos, and related data.
Hospitals and other institutions that perform surgery are continuously trying to improve efficiency to reduce cost. To support that effort, independent auditors or additional staff record data and report metrics such as surgery time for various procedures, surgery time for various surgeons for a particular procedure, and operating room turn-over time.
There exists a need for a way to automatically record data, produce reports for medical records and produce reports that can help managers devise strategy to improve operating room efficiency.